Workout of the Day

Apr 27

Stand Or Run

“Our anxiety systems are very practical. They assume anything you run away from is dangerous. The proof of that, of course, is the fact that you ran away.” - Jordan Peterson

It’s sometimes comical (in the scary way) how capable we are of shaping our realities against our own best interests. With a tendency to focus on what is affecting them (rather than what they are affecting), most people find it rather easy to see the world as a place full of offenses and dangers and things which ought to be feared and hated. The problem is that these offenses and dangers and feared and hated things are largely self-created.

Run from something, and it will be feared. This isn’t a game of “which came first, the chicken or the egg” -- it’s just how humans operate. It is the result of the feedback loop of your body and mind. Your body doesn’t respond to whether or not you are actually being chased, it responds to your choice to run away (and the mind follows).

I know I need these reminders again and again, and I imagine I’m not alone. Consider this your weekly encouragement to lean in, to stand strong, to see if that scary shadow monster lurking in the dark corner is something to be feared, or just the creations of your highly-evolved body and mind responding exactly as they should. Stand and face that thing, and perhaps it won’t be so fear-inducing after all.